For parents who think conventional approaches to classroom education are too stifling, the Manhattan Free School (MFS) offers children ages 5 through 18 a chance to learn on their own terms. A self-described democratic school, it opens its very alternative doors this fall, occupying the third floor of St. George’s School in the East Village. At the school’s philosophical heart is the idea that each student has the right and the need to participate in decision-making activities in a non-coercive educational environment. For interested families who can’t afford all of the $15,000 annual tuition, there is a sliding scale. For more info, visit manhattanfreeschool.org.